Japan unveils 'space beer' that tastes heavenly, literally!

Published: Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 17:22 [IST]

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London, Dec 3 : If you're bored of the regular beers served in pubs and parities, then get ready for another variety of the alcohol that promises a 'heavenly' taste - Japan has recently unveiled the world's first "space beer" cultivated from barley grown in a laboratory orbiting the earth.

The new 'extra-terrestrial' beverage comes after a five-month mission, in which barley was grown for the first time in a Russian laboratory on board the International Space Station (ISS).

And then Sapporo Breweries, one of Japan's major breweries, used the space-grown crop of barley to create 100 litres of a 5.5 per cent proof beer.

The beer, aptly named Space Barley, was the result of a collaboration between the Russian Academy of Science, Okayama University in Japan and Sapporo Breweries , one of the oldest brewers in the country.

"There's really no beer like it because it uses 100 per cent barley. Our top seller is the Black Label brand, using additional ingredients such as rice. This one doesn't, and is really a special beer," The Telegraph quoted Junichi Ichikawa, managing directory for strategy at Sapporo Breweries, as saying.

Barley, along with other products including wheat, lettuce and peas were grown as the result of an on-going crop growing project on board ISS.

In fact, plans to grow potatoes in space are also underway. But, they will be grown for food rather than producing vodka, said Boris Morukov, a cosmonaut who spent 11 days in space on board the ISS.

"I think we would try to grow potatoes as food, not for vodka production," The Telegraph quoted him as saying.

Although the current batch of space beer will not go on shelves, but 30 couples selected from among the public by lottery will be invited to a special tasting event in Tokyo next month.

While beer was not part of the space menus due to its alcohol and gas content, breweries are now expecting that astronauts might just be allowed to relish the newly created space beer in space.

The space beer was unveiled only days after a selection of Japanese delicacies such as seaweed soup, mackerel in miso and green tea, were blasted into space to feed astronauts on board the ISS.